January 14, 2008

dirty beauty ingredients

I've been meaning to get a list together for awhile now of ingredients to avoid in cosmetic products. You can imagine my relief when I saw the Green Guide had published a comprehensive summary of the things to avoid in body products.

Essentially, they say to avoid antibacterials, coal tar, diethanolamine (DEA), 1,4-dioxane, formaldehyde, fragrance, lead and mercury, nanoparticles, parabens, petroleum distillates, P-phenylenediamine, and hydroquinone. It is worth reading their synopsis of each one, though, because unfortunately it is not as simple as checking the ingredient list. Many are contaminants that are created by the combination of two other ingredients (see my post about 1,4-dioxane. crazy!)

As a theme this week I'll be highlighting some of the various beauty products I've been trying. I'm sure there are many good ones to choose from, but I'll show you some recent favorites.